Toronto-Dominion Bank said fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 5.3% as higher earnings from retail banking and gains in trading revenue helped counter C$243 million ($183 million) in restructuring costs tied to job cuts.
Net income for the period ended Oct. 31 climbed to C$1.84 billion, or 96 cents a share, from C$1.75 billion, or 91 cents, a year earlier, the Toronto-based lender said Thursday in a news release. Profit excluding some items was C$1.14 a share, beating the C$1.13 average estimate of 14 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
"We're very pleased with both the quarter and the year," Chief Financial Officer Colleen Johnston said in a telephone interview. "As we look to 2016, we're going to continue to focus on three areas: driving organic revenue growth, diligently managing our expense growth and continuing to make strategic investments to adapt and innovate for the future."
Bharat Masrani, 59, who took over as chief executive officer in November 2014, spent his first year overseeing companywide cost cuts and eliminating 1,594 jobs, or about 1.9% of the firm's workforce, according to disclosures. The bank's latest charge followed a C$228 million cost in the second quarter tied to its initial wave of restructuring, which focused mostly on U.S. operations. Toronto-Dominion had 80,554 employees as of Oct. 31.
Revenue rose 8% to C$8.05 billion from a year earlier, beating analysts' estimates. Provisions for credit losses soared 37% to C$509 million after the bank set aside money in the U.S. for floods in South Carolina and its acquisition of Nordstrom Inc.'s credit-card portfolio. TD said it plans to repurchase as many as 9.5 million, or 0.5%, of its outstanding shares.
Toronto-Dominion's U.S. retail operations posted adjusted profit of C$646 million, up 27 % from a year earlier, after benefiting from a stronger greenback compared to the Canadian dollar and higher contributions from its 41% stake in U.S. brokerage TD Ameritrade Holding. TD, with more branches in the U.S. than Canada, said adjusted earnings for its U.S. retail business climbed 6.3% to $491 million in U.S. currency.
Canadian retail adjusted profit, which includes wealth management and insurance, rose 10% to C$1.5 billion. Adjusted earnings from domestic personal-and-commercial banking climbed 9.9% to C$1.12 billion, while earnings from wholesale banking increased 23% to C$196 million.
